1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a reproducing apparatus for a remote rental system, and more particularly to a reproducing apparatus for enabling a remote rent of video titles, comprising an information-stored medium on which video information such as movies is stored together with a unique ID code; a player for reproducing the data on the information-stored medium; and an external device which communicates with a remote server and processes the data read out from the information-stored medium.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
A digital video disc (DVD) is the next generation of compact disc media that is capable of recording a large amount of digital information of about 5 GB on one side of the disc, even if DVD has the same diameter of 12 cm as CD. The DVD""s larger capacity is due to the enhancement of aiming and focusing mechanisms and recording density, and so on. Since a 135-minute movie fits on the DVD if it is compressed in MPEG-2 format, the DVD is expected to replace a magnetic video tape and CD.
A general optical disc player converts the compressed video and audio data on the CD or the DVD into high-quality video and CD-quality audio for output to TVs and stereo systems.
FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of a conventional optical disc player. It comprises an optical disc 1 which contains audio and/or video data; an optical pickup 3 for reading out the audio/video data; a disc controller for controlling the rotation of the disc for accurate the read-out operation; a data buffer 5 for temporarily storing the data read out by the optical pickup 3; an audio/video signal processor 9 for converting the data in the data buffer 5 to output video/audio signal to an external display unit 11 such as TV or monitor; and a micro control unit (MCU) 7 for controlling the operations of the audio/video signal processor 9, the optical pickup 3, and the data buffer 5.
The reproduction operation of the optical disc player configured as above is as follows. The data read out from the optical disc 1 by the optical pickup 3 are temporarily stored in the data buffer 5 and are then fed to the digital signal processor 9. The digital signal processor 9 outputs them after signal processing and decoding. The MCU 7 controls overall processes from the read-out operation by the optical pickup 3 to audio/video signal decoding by the digital signal processor 9.
Even though the optical disc player has several advantages, its market has not grown rapidly yet. Considering big rental markets of movies, education, and music video titles of magnetic video tape or CD, it is probable that the DVD titles will be distributed for rental as well as for sales. Current video tape rental systems, however, have several inconveniences to both customers and retailers. First, customers have to return the rented video tapes in the rent period regardless of viewing the rented video tapes. And they have to visit the video stores to return the video tape.
Moreover, even if customers desire to keep good video titles, the current video tape rental system does not satisfy the customers"" needs completely. On the other hand, retailers and producers have to try to prevent theft of video titles at the rental shop as well as unauthorized copying of the video titles. Moreover, if the unauthorized copying happens, it is impossible to trace which the video tapes are used in the unauthorized copying because the tapes do not have their own ID information.
Especially, because the quality of the DVD titles does not deteriorate even if they are copied too many times, more care must be taken to prevent the unauthorized copying. The retailers have to check the status of the video titles continually.
Video on demand (VOD) system may solve the above mentioned problems, but in the VOD system huge amount of video information must be transmitted over the public phone line, which is still technically challenging.
It is a primary objective of the present invention to solve the above mentioned problems of the conventional video title rental system and to provide a reproducing apparatus, which is composed of an information-stored medium requiring remote playback permission, a player for the information-stored medium, and a communication device, for enabling a remote rental system, thereby allowing customers to keep the information-stored medium and offering advertisements to customers continuously.
The apparatus according to the present invention comprises an information-stored medium on which data are contained together with an ID code; a player which reproduces the data on the information-stored medium; and an external device which communicates with a remote central server for playback permission and processes the data that are read out from the information-stored medium after playback permission. With the apparatus, customers can purchase the information-stored medium at a low cost, use the medium whenever they want, and never return it.
For the player enabling the remote rental system in accordance with the prevent invention, there is the effect of allowing customers to keep the information-stored medium at a lower cost than purchase general information-stored medium titles, not to visit to the title rental stores to return it after an initial use period is completed, and to use them again whenever they want.
It is possible to reduce the overload of the public communication network because the data related only to playback permission are transmitted over the communication network. Due to the apparatus of the present invention, public and commercial advertisements are provided to customers continually over the communication network. Moreover, the unauthorized copying of the information-stored medium is prevented or reduced by monitoring the unique ID information, thereby protecting the title producer""s and retailer""s interests.